But the area around streets with names like Hill, Johnson, Vaughan, Garden and Bolckow was set for a massive change 50 years ago.

For houses in the tightly knit area were demolished as part of a massive programme of so called ‘slum’ clearances across Britain between the 1950s and the 1970s - and in their place?

Well, come the early 70s, that was a matter of debate.

For plans were aired to build a multi million pound brand new shopping centre in the area which would feature two large stores, 60 smaller shop units, covered and open markets, cinemas, a restaurant, squash courts and possibly a social club.

It would become, as we know now, the Hillstreet Centre which is home to many of Middlesbrough’s big name high street shops these days.

A press conference first unveiled plans for a shopping centre in 1972 but two years later, work still hadn’t started and the expected costs for such a development had rocketed to £7m. Talks rumbled on and by 1978 a major superstore project at South Bank was announced - leading to the Co-op, which had been lined up to take on the superstore in the Hillstreet, announcing it was pulling out.

Finally, in November 1979, it was announced Fine Fare had signed up, and within weeks, contractors had moved onto the site. Less than two years later, in 1981, the shopping centre was open for business.

Do you remember when the centre was being built? As you can see from the site board in our picture, the construction partnership was between French Kier Property Developments and Middlesbrough Borough Council. We’ve also got an image of how some of the surrounding streets looked before the development even started, taken from the vantage point of roughly where the Toni and Guy hair salon currently stands, looking down Bolckow Street.

These days, at the bottom of the street you would see a side view of the Hillstreet Centre but back in 1970 when the picture was taken, you can see clear to the church near to where Sainsbury’s is now.

The shop Fred Burns, seen right, on the corner, became a building society in around 1990. Further down the street, also on the right, S Taylor and Co Ltd, coal order office became a Citizen’s Advice Bureau and next door was the County Court. It closed down in May 1991 and transferred to the Combined Centre Courts. The tall building is the back of the former Hippodrome theatre and cinema.